all right bring it Barry all right all
of your word 6:35 Commission meeting
which thanked Lucy would you like to go
over commission membership which is
technically the first agenda item that
we often do well I want to introduce Ben
Rusch who's a new member of the UB DC
this is his first meeting in 2017 his
first meeting ever and it's first inning
in 2017 thank you for clarifying I don't
think we can do the minutes because we
don't have a quorum from the UB DC we
only have three members okay we'll see
if any more okay so this evening we are
starting the process of ending to
development agreements I'll go through
that in a minute but you'll notice that
both the U V DC and PPC are here it's a
joint meeting the U V DC has been
working with the development agreements
for 20 years and so it seemed important
that they were sort of the lead on
unwinding these but because PPC will be
getting whatever product comes out of it
it it we decided that having joint
meetings and going through it together
would be a good way to get the best
result having both parties participating
so that's why we're here tonight and
so I'm going to run through a version of
the memo that you all received and this
is a very informal meeting so feel free
to interrupt me as we're going through
if you have questions no need to wait
till the end so development agreements
these are authorized by the states and
they are contract between a property
owner and city they do not automatically
expire at least the ones we have written
in its quad do not automatically expire
there is a build-out period in which the
regulations are set unless both parties
agree to change the regulations and
after the build-out period they can
continue indefinitely or one party could
ask to terminate the development
agreement in this case port Blakely
communities who is the master developer
of Issaquah Highlands has asked to
terminate the iske Highlands development
agreement the city has instigated
terminating the talus development
agreement and the city is also
recommending the termination of two
other development agreements which you
can see on here the little pink area
right here next to the park-and-ride and
just north of Regal Cinemas is the Tod
transit oriented development development
agreement which is where the YWCA family
village and Z home is located and then
the wash that TDR development agreement
are the green parcels down here and Pine
Crest which I'm circling and Sun Ridge
which I'm circling are essentially built
out so because we're already going
through this work on it Highlands
we're recommending doing that but we
will leave we're recommending leaving
the development agreement in place for
Bellevue college
any questions what's the there is no
expiration period of what is the
lifespan of the Gulf College I think
it's that's a good question let me just
look at that
I think it's 2040 as my memory it's
longer than 2040 okay so it's longer
than the one for the residential
portions they got a longer opportunity
to build out and part of that was
recognizing that if you were actually
going to build a college campus it was
likely going to take longer than 15
years to do that so that was part of the
negotiation of them buying the property
in the first place so yes it is 2040 for
Bellevue college and 2025 for the
residential areas and since they're
complete that's why we were making that
recommendation so what is the process
the development agreements have a little
bit of process but it's essentially like
a rezone so we are required by the
development agreement to hold a public
hearing which we will do we will have a
notification process just like we would
with a rezone and we began this in the
spring of 2017 as far as funds right in
my eye so I keep stepping further and
further to the no it's the high window
actually so the screens closed but it's
coming right through the little slot
anyway cleaning so we started the
process in the spring with presentations
to this clean Highlands community the
Taos community the City Council and the
administration so what our staffs goals
there may be other goals but these are
the ones that we've identified the first
one was to retain the character of each
urban village second was to create as
few non-conforming situations as
possible by non-conforming we mean that
if something is legally built under one
set of rules and the rules change and
the building or setbacks or use no
longer conforms with the new rules it's
considered a legally non-conforming
menus now sometimes you can't help but
create those but it's our goal to try
and avoid that we'd like to have rules
that are more consistent with the rest
of the city mainly just to make it
easier for the public for the homeowners
associations for staff to just not have
to manage so many different sets of
rules but we're will we're going to do
that where we don't think it'll have a
significant impact on the character of
the urban villages and then the fourth
goal is to consolidate the Tod and
washed-out TDR areas into the Issaquah
Highlands which generally makes sense
because they were based on that
development agreement that their
architectural review committees review
the project so there's already a lot of
interrelatedness between the two so here
are some of the things that we're
planning on doing first of all we're
looking for places where there's city
policies guidelines and standards that
are universal things that don't affect
character that are that could be
consistent from one area of the city to
another we're looking at unique goals
and guidelines that apply that we feel
are part of what created the character
of that urban village and retaining
those retaining certain development
standards that we think are again unique
to that urban village so it could be
setbacks
it could be heights it could be other
development standards
now both talus and even more so for
istrico Highlands had very broad range
of uses so for example in iskele
Highlands it might say almost every
single parcel in Issaquah Highland says
the allowed uses are retail commercial
residential recreation when you bought
your when you bought a piece of land you
couldn't do anything with that land
unless you also bought entitlement so
you bought a piece of land and then you
bought 30 residential you
for fifty thousand square feet of
commercial or twenty thousand square
feet of retail so even though all those
uses were allowed the entitlement really
told you what you could do but then when
you go and you look at the range of uses
that are associated with that a lot of
them are again much broader than what's
been developed so we're looking at
narrowing that down to a smaller range
that will we feel will maintain the
consistent character
we're also establishing a private
community facilities zone the way
communities facilities are in the rest
of the city it's generally a public
agency city fire department school
district are probably the three most
common ones we're thinking of the
homeowners association as almost like a
public agency for the urban villages so
that where they own property whether
it's a park an open space a community
center any of those kinds of facilities
that that should have a sort of a
similar zone on it because that's kind
of held by everyone and that will help
the zoning uses and the way people look
at the map convey the way that land is
intended to be used how's that currently
known the urban village okay so just the
same yeah it's everything's owned the
same and these are this is land that
publicly used or some of its like kind
of in my public mix and I know there's a
large chunks of parturient
my reason I was smiling and looking at
Jennifer as she's been doing a very very
in-depth evaluation of every single
parcel to see the uses that are allowed
on each piece of property and the
implants so sometimes it's access
utilities open space recreation so
that's a pretty broad mix of stuff that
right in there okay but it's not usually
buildings sure unless it was like a
picnic shelters
but I mean that's part of what we're
still sort of digging through to make
sure before we put because when you look
at the city zones and that's that I'm
getting into the weeds but it will be a
good introduction for next week or next
meeting there it's not just a CF zone
its CF RR EC for recreation and CF OS
for open space CF s for facilities and
so to be able to decide whether it
should have
OS rec or facilities we have to know
what is not just what it's used for now
but what it's entitled to be to make
sure we're not removing a right so we
created a new CF zone are we going to
take existing TF zones and apply them
we're talking about using a new zone
it's going to have exactly the same
letters except it's just going to have a
P to indicate that it's private ok so
that we knew CF p zone that will okay
that's the thought right now sure and
then the last piece is a lot of the
central law standards started in urban
villages and then have gone into central
is claw and so where those standards are
similar or the same we would use those
rather than retain say separate parking
standards for the urban village and
central is cloth so here's the chart
that you received in your packet we kind
of divided yep so on that side if we're
going to kind of unify Highlands and in
central Issaquah so what comes out of
the moratorium process will also then
impact islands right so in these four
sort of pots that we are starting with
there's a group of things that would be
terminated because we don't feel those
things are needed anymore so the main
body is the main contract capital
facilities is certain kinds of
infrastructure and equipment that was
required as part of the development
agreement many of them had a master
transportation financing agreement in
terms of major roadways or building an
intersection or improving roads to the
project those have all been completed
fiscal highland had Quarry standards if
you've been around long enough it used
to be a quarry where Grand Central Plaza
is Grand Ridge and obviously no more
chlorines going on there then there are
its qualm Municipal Code or IMC
standards that we think are these are
the kind of universal standards that
were identifying so affordable housing
critical areas Environmental Policy Act
which is a state set of regulations
sustainability all of our utilities how
utilities are designed and built and
then impact fees so all of that would
use the city standards in the IMC
central Issaquah would be quite a few of
the standards and the whole central is
clock code would be available where
there weren't standards written just for
the urban villages so you can see there
quite a few and then the right-hand
column are the pieces that we're
proposing to take standards from the
development agreements and move them
into their own section to retain the
character so the goals and objectives
and urban design guidelines that those
appendices now would just still be
available for reviewing future permits
land use standards I've listed some down
at the bottom in thinking about this
there were things like parks plazas and
trails that had standards in the
development agreements that really don't
have an equivalent standard in either
central Issaquah or them
no code so we're proposing carrying kind
of a streamlined version of those
forward to cover either redevelopment or
development or changes in the urban
villages vous nurse if you're familiar
with those as sort of a shared
pedestrian vehicular area the centralist
law standards because it's got some more
density those usually have a separate
walkway even if it's on one constant
plane so where we've proposed a lunar
set of lunar standards that we've been
working with Eastside Fire and Rescue
and Public Works engineering on and then
the processing piece that we're carrying
forward that we're proposing to carry
forward our major modifications so for
those of you who haven't worked with the
development agreements before there were
a bunch of change
modifications kind of like
administrative adjustment of standards
in the IMC world and centralized qua
world there were modifications that
staff could make and and that had to be
agreed to between the master developer
and staff but then there were certain
kinds of changes that you couldn't do
without going to council and so quite a
few of those were proposing to carry
forward going higher adding density
changes of use can't remember them all
but anyway there are things that again
we think would be a change the character
and a significant enough change that it
should be a council decision with public
input so any questions here before I
move forward yeah I don't know if it's
due I'm asking but I'm wondering if
there's oh thank you yeah for each for
each column that there's a way to for
those bullets to identify or strict or
less strict or something like that to
ensure without
knowing inner saying what what's from A
to B so it was this way in the
development agreement and now we're
adopting this utilities regulation from
the Municipal Code does that mean what's
the significant change about it as an
example okay there are we have so based
on Lindsay's question I had already
planned a question she'd emailed in
today asking for more better
understanding so first of all we'll send
links out with the next packet to
development agreement centralist claw
and I MC we have to some extent
maintained a list of some of the changes
that some of the things that would go
away I'm not sure that we could do it
I mean I think we can give you a sense
of whether we think this is a change or
what is being dropped but I I don't know
that we can even if as soon as I was
thinking the question I recognize that
it's very subjective and you know very
qualitative not quantitative so it would
it be helpful maybe if staff provided
the rationale for the recommendation so
in other words you know like for
utilities you know it's that what was
adopted and those development agreements
is either 15 or 20 years old and so the
rationale for somehow trying to you know
keep that alive for any longer that's
that's an easy conversation to have
right best management practices have in
the industry have just evolved over two
decades right so I think in some ways we
could do that that's that's a fairly
easy exercise because I think we know
the rationale for why we're proposing to
either keep in place to go to Issaquah
municipal code or to go to central is a
clause so that might be helpful for the
Commission's to see that thought process
and I don't know that that's really
unpacking this too far I think we could
probably do that would that be helpful
certainly that's what
excuse me certainly that type of thing
it would be very insightful and okay
we're going to an updated code makes
complete sense
I think commission members and probably
residents of any of the affected areas
would probably want to know it's
something you know lighting for example
I remember many lighting discussions
towel is here and others and if things
got opened up because we're adopting
things for central Issaquah standards
which might have very different
standards than a hillside standards that
would be important to say okay we you
know we've changed it this is what it
looks like
sure thank you or or kind of the same
question I know that you had meetings
with Allison and a residents up in
Highland did any of what they said go
into where you what these things where
you decided to keep or not keep did any
of that or is that down the road of you
know I think so as I said to taro and we
were visiting before this started the
city has a lot of experience starting
development agreements we're learning
about how to unwind them and so I think
one of the things that has been so
helpful about going out into the
community is the kinds of things people
ask about that you know if I have a home
occupation will I still be able to do
that if I have will fence standards you
know I mean it's sometimes very little
things that people were asking about but
they were really good questions in terms
of how do these things compare is this
significantly different and so I don't
think that there was any direct result
it was more making helping us make sure
that we were thinking through the kinds
of things that people were concerned
about and understanding if there was um
if something you know whether it was
going to be a significant change or not
you did listen to them and that's what
I'm getting yet yes we do try and listen
to the public when they say so I think
one of the biggest things that I
remember from the Highland meetings
specifically was there were a couple
different questions about land uses for
the properties that had not developed
yet so as Lucy mentioned on the previous
slide one of the things that we did was
take the existing land uses and come up
with kind of more of a subset a smaller
range we will spend a lot of time I'm
using my crystal ball we will spend a
lot of time talking about what's being
allowed to move forward and it will you
know it it affects not only the the
properties are undeveloped right now but
also as things might potentially
redevelop over time so those will be
very specific lists for one for talus
and one for the highlands which I think
we'll spend a lot of time on okay so
speaking of land uses typically when you
do zoning you know you for instance have
single-family 5,000 square foot lot and
if you were going to go out and develop
it you would say I have an acre property
and I'm allowed to have 5,000 square
foot Lots and that goes into it eight
times and therefore I can have eight
watts it's a little bit different at a
Highlands because part of an talus
to some extent the particularly
disciplines the master developer did
pretty small parcels sold to lots of
different people targeting different
kinds of product so you might have a
very expensive division of very
expensive houses across the street from
division of more modest houses next to a
series of townhouses next to a mixed-use
product and if we were going to do
traditional zoning we would have to
calculate the lot size on every single
one of those Lots and try and figure out
are we going to have some that are a
little smaller
conforming or are we going to pick the
smallest one and then some of the big
ones could subdivide so instead of
trying to do all that math what we came
up with with a little different version
since what we're trying to do is keep
the character that's there so if you
think about a single-family neighborhood
the zoning on it would have all the
development standards for single-family
heights setbacks uses but instead of
having a density size such as five
thousand square foot lot we just say if
you have a single-family lot your
entitlement is one house if you can if
you subdivide your lot you can subdivide
your lot but you have no entitlement to
put on that lot so it doesn't really
encourage further subdivision for a
multi-family parcel you would actually
be given a specific number so if you if
you've purchased 135 units of
entitlement residential units of
entitlement you would have 135 in your
overlay likewise if you had commercial
property if you had 90,000 square feet
that of entitlement that you purchased
you would get that on your property so
if you had used all of it you would be
done if you haven't used all of it then
you might be able to build a later phase
but you wouldn't get more entitlement
than you have right now and then what
would be the mechanism for creating new
entitlement in the future so that's
going to be a discussion item of whether
we want to do that probably the
mechanism that we've identified so far
is iskele Highlands is a TDR transfer of
development rights receiving site and so
if the community and council wanted to
keep that level of sort of flexibility
available
you could allow someone to you know if a
multifamily project was going to
redevelop and they wanted to have ten
more units they could buy ten transfer
of development rights and be able to
increase the density of their project so
what we talked about was both change of
uses and increase in density would be
analogous to a rezone which is a council
process so like let's say so right now
you own a piece of property the zoning
is multifamily and you have 200 units on
it if I wanted to instead build
commercial or retail I would have to get
the council to approve that so that
would be an application that would go
through process and ultimately would be
a council decision that's what we're
proposing at this point but that is one
of the things we get to talk about
through this process parks or open space
they would have certain development
standards or uses that are allowed but
they would have zero entitlement because
we're not building a use on there and
then we've already talked about changes
in the future
so unbuilt properties this is Dallas and
it's Highlands there are a number of
properties that are in the process at
Dallas there is this property which is
kind of colloquially called emmerich
here's the entrance and you can see the
ponds it's got a steep slope through the
middle and there's no opportunity for a
road connection so even though the part
of talus it would connect to sr 900
there are two pieces of property that
the city either own or will own this is
looks like a piece of park property and
it might remain a piece of park property
but it right now has entitlement for six
thousand square feet of retail and so we
would retain that but then there would
be a council decision if that was ever
to move forward same with a about a
quarter acre piece of property
at the base of the reservoir in Tallis
it is where the sort of construction
trailers are and it is entitled for tend
Welling units and then the last is a
large piece of property down here which
is entitled for five hundred and ten
thousand square feet of commercial they
have asked for this to be converted to
residential entitlement right now there
hasn't been a position from staff on
that and so that's just a question out
there for discussion at esquel Island
some of the pieces that are on here are
in motion but I kept them on here just
for discussions sake track D was just
the city owned sat and as part of the
West Ridge that's this area out here
development it was identified for ten
single-family homes
Westridge the 223 represents the
transfer of development rights some
affordable housing and remaining
entitlement that they have they already
have a townhouse project that has been
approved in that area and they're going
to be submitting soon on another
townhouse and a single-family plat so we
expect those to move through the process
this year and so those will consume
presumably most of that 223 it will
consume all of it the homeowners
association of its core islands owns
this property kind of across the street
from sip and cafe law dro they're
looking at building offices there this
parcel behind Marshalls is it's owned by
Sumitomo but Trammell Crowe residential
is looking at developing it and we have
received a land use permit for 135 units
which is there in title
entire entitlement this parcel here
behind Dix is what many of you who have
heard about city surf they have an
entitlement of 90,000 they're proposing
on using 10,000 and then shelter
properties owns a sort of reverse el and
they own about 1.8 million square feet
of retail and commercial what happens
for example would walk 20 if they build
something that doesn't fully consume
that what happens that excess
entitlement can they use it elsewhere
that's one of our questions so far is
whether I mean when the master
developers were active what would happen
is often they would sell it and once you
developed it anything you didn't use
reverted to them so the construct that
we've developed though that entitlement
is with that parcel so because it's an
overlay that goes with that property so
let's assume city surf only builds
10,000 square feet and in 20 years
though somebody else wants to buy that
and then build a 90 thousand square foot
hotel that could be done under the
existing construct that we put together
so so I don't know that it transfers I
think it runs with that property right
I'm not I'm not suggesting that it does
but those are the kinds of questions
that we need to sort out is whether it's
transferable whether you know does it
disappear after a number of years is it
there until some kind of other City
process we're going to question here's
looking at the thanks the shelter
holdings operating the reverse out if we
are
apply new standards see IP standards to
that well they build that out will it be
built out to the highlands dinner or
would it be built out to the proposed
CIP standard if we made a decision in
this committee to approve your
recommendations I don't I don't entirely
know they are proposing to submit a plat
preliminary plat and final plat each of
those vests you for a period of time I
think that the question is what does it
vest you to I know it vets you to
certain entitlement and development
standards I don't know if it invest it
bests you to everything that's a
question that we haven't gotten to the
city attorney - I'm there sitting here
so I'm sure they have an opinion as well
so I think I mean if I heard your
question wide right Ron I think it's
it's kind of a kind of a Frankenstein
it's a little bit of both so so so and
then it's hard because we're actually
now starting to talk about what code
would actually come with this so some of
the things that chart that Lucy showed
earlier said there's certain things that
we're proposing either be standard city
code or central Issaquah but then
there's a whole bunch of stuff that's
going to be specific to the properties
in the highlands and to Tallis so for
example you know building heights and
setbacks and land uses will all be
specific to each of the post villages
but something like parking and lighting
might be central Issaquah right so it's
going to be it's going to be a
combination of some of this and some of
that at the end of the day at least
that's what we're proposing so that
we're not duplicating a whole set of
standards for the highlands and for
talus and then have one for central
Issaquah and one for central is you know
central Issaquah and then one for Old
Town I mean you end up with like 12 sets
of standards and it's low confusing so
so one of the things again part of the
proposal that's on the table is is there
standards and this will get I think to
what Karl asked for is there standards
we can use in the highlands and Talas
that from somewhere else in the city
that doesn't cause us to create a new
one if there is then that's something
that we may want to propose as being a
starting point if through the
conversation we have here you know it's
decided no that's a bad choice then we
can always either one develop a set of
standards for a particular subject that
might be village related or go with
maybe overall Issaquah not Central
Issaquah or I mean those are our choices
I think I mean I think one of the things
that Lucy said early and I want to take
you back to that is we're trying to
consolidate our codes and our rules as
much as we can
that's a I think we see that as a
positive outcome because right now we
have rules for the Highlands rules for
Tallis rules for centralized acquire
rules for Old Town and rules for the
rest of the city and that's a lot of
different rules to try and get right and
keep track of so so what would be the
public benefit of going with moving
forward with the CIP now these
properties are going to be developed
then maybe to the CIP standards so is
there a public benefit for us to do that
because it sounds like they may have the
option of being built out of character
using different standards that may not
be it might change the character of the
buildings as opposed to the environments
of being so the centralist clause
standards that we are proposing are ones
that are very similar or the same as the
ones that are in the urban villages now
and so those were not that's why we're
retaining certain standards just for the
urban villages because we feel those are
the standards that are essential to
retaining the character so this is a
administrative optimization
as opposed to a public benefit I
disagree I that isn't what I thought was
a questions plan I think it's a balance
I mean I think what we're trying to do
is so our perspective and this is part
of the conversation is you know Issaquah
has very unique and identifiable
neighborhoods and I think one of the
things that we're not trying to do with
this process is turn Issaquah Highlands
and talus into central Issaquah we
believe that there's value to
maintaining the distinction between the
neighborhoods and so how do you do that
and and bring forward some codes that
allow those differences to continue
without having completely three
different sets of standards so so we've
I think so we've gone through the mental
exercise of saying okay what what is is
close enough and some of those we think
are close enough to what's in the
development agreement now to say you
know what let's go ahead and pick these
things and we'll go through that
conversation I think maybe next time but
then what Lucy said earlier and and for
those of you who haven't used the
development agreements very much you
know taking the existing urban design
guidelines for Issaquah Highlands and
just adopting it by code that is that's
64 pages in and of itself that talks
about neighborhood types and landscaping
and so that character piece one of the
things that we started to do was to say
well maybe we could summarize those you
know and then it started to be what wait
we don't we as staff don't want to pick
and choose what might be important to
the community let's just take the
existing character piece which we think
are the design guidelines and just
basically attach them to the ordinance
which creates the new code and so it'll
stay as they are for all time until
somebody wants to change them in the
future so that's that was a starting
space because I think we saw the value
of not you we think that the folks that
live in talat like tablets we think the
people that live in the highlands
the islands and maintaining those
distinctions as part of this process is
an important outcome so so whether we've
constructed this the right way or it
needs to maybe get tweaked a little bit
I think as an outcome hopefully we can
point to our outcome and say yes this
will keep those neighborhoods feeling
distinct and different because I think
there's some value to that and and one
thing I would add Ron is that while
we're seeing some value for staff we see
that value in terms of simplifying the
rules as being even more important to
the public because right now we get
calls people have a hard time figuring
out what you know am I in the Municipal
Code am I going to central Issaquah do I
need to find a development agreement
online that whole that's that's just
it's a quad that it's not something that
happens in other cities it isn't doesn't
make it particularly easy for the public
to know which set of rules if I want to
build a deck which set of rules do I use
well you start here and then you go
there you know you need a guide dog to
get through it all so I think what so I
think we think that that's not only
advantageous to staff but even more
advantageous to the public yeah I think
towards the end it would be helpful to
know pros and cons of both options that
way we can please Mike and when you say
both options can you tell me what
options you're talking about so the
option of keeping the development
agreement in place for the properties
that are unbuilt versus going to the CIP
I think it's probably a more complicated
question than what is provided in the
packet but having the understanding of
what are the pros and cons would help me
make a decision
okay thank you so I think I ran through
all of that okay
this was a slide we put together when we
presented to Council this spring and
thought it might be a helpful thing to
discuss with the Commission's why some
of the urban villages might not want
this so one thing that we're proposing
is to use the current critical area
standards it's been 20 years and best
available science has changed a lot and
so the buffers for streams and wetlands
have increased which means that some
properties that are near those streams
and wetlands may be in may become
non-conforming now I think the thing I
want to say is this has happened for all
eternity in the city of his quad you can
imagine that homes that were built in
the early days of Issaquah near the
creeks on the creeks virtually in the
creeks have gone through this and so it
does not mean that a home that is now
non-conforming because the critical area
can never change nothing can happen but
there are some more restrictions on what
can happen with a single-family home if
they want to add a deck they may have
fewer options about where that deck
could go second is I think some of them
might be helpful as waiting for this
process is to maybe quantify I mean it
is I mean better that whatever you have
so we are we're we're trying to do that
but States made it really hard and the
reason is that up until the last change
which happened a year or two ago buffers
were specific
they are no longer a specific number it
is an evaluation based on a number of
criteria in terms of the habitat value
the quality or classification of the
critical area so there's this whole list
and so the buck you do not know the
buffer until you've gone through that
evaluation so so how does if I'm a
homeowner who's near ish Creek
how do I know if I'm at risk of being
impacted and or even then more
importantly after we make a decision how
do they know if they've been impacted so
that when sometimes them to build the
deck secures from now they have they're
even aware of like any change so one
thing that we have talked about doing
and we're attempting I'm looking at
Jennifer kosygin's
she's our kind of been coordinating a
lot with the GIS staff we're trying to
look at the buffers before the last
change to see what how many of how much
that affected homes outside of the
established critical area tracts with
the idea being the old numbers are a
good approximation of the new it not be
an approximation but it would at least
give us a starting point but when a
homeowner wanted to do something they
might have to go out and hire someone to
do an evaluation can you can you
quantify how many homeowners will then
need to do that evaluation I made this
movie this is more of as he keep a
question so what does this mean that if
I'm a homeowner that's not near a
creek and I want to build the deck do I
still need to go and pay someone to do
an evaluation but we would have to I
mean I understand your question because
it's how do how does staff for instance
even know to let someone know that they
need to do this exactly it's a good
question it you know frankly we did not
want to go to this new system because
it's unpredictable and it's
unpredictable for everyone but this is
but this particular thing is a state law
so doesn't it apply whether or not
you're using
an agreement or Issaquah municipal
standards aren't they both so SEPA state
law the critical area standards are
administered by a state agency they
require that each city adopt new
regulations to implement this new
approach so going back to the web Ron
poser with we have two options kind of a
keep or a change don't both of those
need to meet the critical area
requirements since they're both under
state law so so staff I mean so you guys
think there's an option in front of you
and you may and you may ultimately
recommend that we set in stone standards
that are twenty years old for wetlands
because that's that's great right right
you know staffs not going to support
that and we're going to tell you all the
reasons why we think that's a bad idea
and and and the fact that it happens all
through the rest of the city so what
part of this conversation is us
hopefully convincing you that we've kind
of put it in the right spot and if you
guys altima don't agree you guys can
always recommend something else but I
think staffs going to say that there's a
lot of reasons why we would not say
preserve the existing wetland regulation
on the other hand we do recognize that
we need to help the Commission's the
council staff and homeowners understand
the possible magnitude of no I I get
that and I'm from everything I've seen
so far I think this is this is all that
this is all what should should be
happening I think my question is more
I'm wondering why we're highlighting the
change in critical area requirements if
regardless of what we do we still have
to meet the state critical area
requirements I think we were just trying
to let you guys know that there might be
a number of people that might see this
as being a bad evolution for them
personally based on their own housing
situation right so it's it's not it's
not that that we don't have some things
that we need to do it's just that there
might be a number of people that say we
shouldn't do this well and and I so I
think that we're trying
as best we can with with a lot of
complexity to highlight we're trying to
be transparent about potential outcomes
of this so we may not have a choice but
we wouldn't we're trying to avoid the
surprise I think and I think that's what
I think maybe that that's I'm trying to
drive I feel like whether or not we want
to use a centralized across street light
requirement or a difference rely
requirement is something the city has
complete control over whether or not we
meet the new state critical air
requirements we have to do that
regardless of what we want to do is I
think it might be helpful especially
when in doing Public Engagement to
differentiate between look we need to
meet these critical area requirements
could state law and then we just are
bringing up to code that versus oh we're
suggesting doing this and it's something
that's discretion of the city and we
would like to have community feedback on
where we land and then differentiate
between those two things sure and I
think that's part of what Carl asked for
earlier which is why are you
recommending this and it's going to be
okay yes state law right so stormwater
is going to be the same way sure I mean
so n PDS all the properties in the
villages are going to have to meet the
new stormwater code yeah yeah that's a
great point if you cover that in Carl's
request I think that's I guess let's
exact form I think we're gonna get there
okay cool
thank you and while we're on actually on
that topic sure the question kind of
bounced off of his let's say you have
parcel a and it's actually now in a
critical area because of the policy
changes were considering here tonight
that house has a driveway and that
homeowner 20 years from now wants to
redo the driveway how does what we're
deciding here tonight affect that few if
they have an existing deck and they need
to replace a deck how does our policy
decision affect that and let's say they
have a fire and have a total destruction
of the house and the whole property is
within a critical zone would they have
the ability to rebuild right now under
code yes that one I know I don't
remember on the driveways and decks
there's a certain amount of maintenance
that's allowed so what we can do is a
typical
is you know as long as you're not
increasing your nonconformity you can do
maintenance and replacement right so
you've got a deck you can replace your
deck when it's time to replace your deck
you've got a driveway you want to
replace it great you want to add ten
percent to your driveway so now now
you've got a harder thing to do now
you've got to do you've got to have a
wetland maybe a wetland person say of
whether that's going to impact the
wetland you know so you got to go
through it's an extra hoop it's not an
automatic no it's you have to go through
some extra steps to maybe get what
you're asking for but it might it might
ultimately end up and no you know
where's somebody who's you know AJ who
doesn't have a critical area in his
backyard you know he just doubled the
size of his deck and he's super happy so
I know that's the difference it's right
it's about process and it could result
in no but it doesn't automatically
result in though there's a there's a
process in city code if you're you know
wanting to expand something in a
critical area so we'll put a summary or
and also provide maybe the code so that
someone who wants to read about what the
implications of this might be because
that's that's a completely valid
question thank you yeah so a second
bullet is as we've mentioned some of the
unbuilt properties are asking for
changes so people may not like what
they're at the change that they're
asking for that would be for instance
going back to the unbuilt page the like
the backwards L beam developed
differently all right building you don't
want price payback for mixed use mixed
use entitlement and then the parcel 17b
it talas has asked for their commercial
to become residential so we could in
theory say yes that request via this
process by what comes that would be
their new years as opposed to the old
use yes I mean we'll have an
administration recommendation as part of
that process and there will be a
commission recommendation at the end of
the day the council makes the decision
right right but and and you know just to
cue this up so you guys know why there's
people sitting in the back of the room
at least some
those property owners will be talking
you guys as part of this process to help
you guys understand maybe why they would
like for you to consider a different
land use than what's currently on their
undeveloped property yeah well they're
only a couple of properties where
they've asked for something different
most people are as far as we know so far
are fine with the entitlement they have
what they want to make sure is they
understand the rules like changes in
uses or other things to make sure that
doesn't conflict with what they want to
do there's only a couple of properties
that have asked for changes in the
allowed use from what they purchased so
some rules and processes will change as
we try to do this consolidation we think
that's a benefit but that's a
possibility tree protection will change
right now when you develop an urban
village hundreds if not thousands of
acres have been set aside and protected
with both Dallas and its clients and as
part of the trade-off of that the areas
that were being developed were allowed
to be completely cleared however the
development agreement anticipated that
as you get to the build-out period end
of the build-out period let's say
everyone's happy with the development
agreement and no one wants to terminate
it and it continues after the build-out
period there were tree protection
regulations that were included in the
development agreement so it was
anticipated that tree protection would
become part of the urban villages we're
proposing not and I don't ask me what
the difference is because I don't
actually know it off the top of my head
but we're proposing using existing city
standards not the ones in the
development agreement but tree
protection is going to go in and that's
that's been different than what's been
allowed sorry and when you were
referring to tree per
action CIP allows clear-cutting also
provided their they pay into the tree
fund so what you're proposing is that it
would be the same standard as what is in
a development early development
agreement there wouldn't really be a
tree protection so um
central Issaquah when you're developing
a piece of property allows you to remove
more trees than the city does I'm not
sure that I would say it allows you to
clear-cut but going forward as a
single-family home owner for instance
you're only allowed to remove a certain
number of trees each year and that would
be in place so given that most
properties are developed they would not
have the ability to come in and remove
all their trees but that's just I mean
that's a point of discussion so most of
the undeveloped properties Lucy that
squeaky pens and Remi nuts
so most of the properties that are
undeveloped in the villages are already
cleared so the tree retention issue is
probably not it's really what happens
after so so most of you know what we
were taught what we're talking about is
the trees that are there now and whether
or not and under what rules a property
owner could remove trees as properties
age and and but it's not so much about
the undeveloped stuff now because
they're not forested yeah I realize it's
probably with you almost a new
discussion
and then just general uncertainty you
know it's always hard when things are
changing and not knowing exactly how
they'll change in what the implications
are so next steps we have three meetings
with you guys to discuss this the next
meeting is two weeks from tonight next
week we will get out a draft of the
proposed code we will provide some
information on you know links to
existing codes some more detailed
information to answer some of the
questions
let let commissioners dig in a little
bit more on what's there now and what's
coming in so we'll provide that next
week and then we meet a month after that
to try and finalize a draft that for
recommendation and then we'll be moving
it through the sort of standard process
from there
so if you want we could take public
testimony and then we have one last item
on small item on the agenda sign-in
sheet al-qaeda she is up there if I'm so
and thank you for that reminder Jennifer
so the sign-in sheet is up there if you
want to speak please sign in if you want
to just be kept in the loop
sign in and just mark that you want to
be kept in the loop and that way we'll
have email addresses lissa can I ask a
question sure
is there any engagement with the school
district in this particular conversation
I'm just trying to connect the dots
between this discussion that we're
having this year and then the CFS rezone
and the not sedona island island reasons
in order to incorporate so the the
annexation parcels not in the
development agreements of this
conversation yes I get there I get that
they're strictly speaking independent
but I'm warning whether or not we had we
were engaging with the school district
if they have any thoughts on how we
should be zoning these two lands that
might be helpful for them so right now
we're just dealing with the properties
within the urban villages there is a
school Grand Ridge Elementary is high
school it would get a cff zone sure and
whatever that is is what it is there are
I mean there are lots of discussions
going on with the school district about
all kinds of things so so AJ maybe this
might help but I don't think this was
what you're asking so part of the land
use part of the land use package that we
talked about like so for example for
both of these gentleman's properties
that are undeveloped right now you know
that have commercial entitlement you
know would we allow schools there when
you look at the
a cadre of potential and uses that were
suggesting schools show up there so so
that's a conversation for those parcels
within Telus and the Highlands and
whether or not they could accommodate
schools the other one the annexation
parcel because it's not covered by a
development agreement it's a different
thing
yeah I get that the end of what we do
with the annexation is independent of
this I'm thinking in the context of the
median excision not not the need but the
impetus panning in annotations in or in
the building school there whether or not
we should also be trying ell facilitate
the school district to be able to build
schools soon another spot so by
potentially identifying schools as an
allowed land use within some of these
undeveloped properties in the Highlands
and talus I think we would be doing that
okay yeah yeah and that does one more
question whether or not we're making
clear taken into account and making sure
the school district is having their
voice heard among many other people's
voices right and actually sorry question
for the Bellevue college parcel isn't
ours our plans to change that to
something other than Bobi home so not
unless you've talked to the new
president which we haven't yet so I
don't know I mean so right now they have
a new president and whether or not
they're planning something on that
property I have no idea we're trying to
get a meeting with him sometime soon
that's not my to-do list so I have not
heard anything from Bellevue college
that they're even recognizing they did
answer an email they recognize that
their white land use sign is probably
outdated and needs to come down and no
they said they would take care of that
so we appreciated that attention to
detail so but I don't haven't heard of
any land use plans for the college
property right recently
Lucy before we move to public comment
can I just invite any the commissioners
are there any questions or comments
before we do that obviously people have
been open but I want mature please I
can't
sure right question and you know Ron and
I end up needing Kirk Jo none of the
knowledge okay so are you ready yeah
let's go ahead I public comment so the
first person who signed up is Eric Evan
mr. Evans
thank you
so the benefit of record my name is Eric
Evans one 1/64 south east 5th street W
Washington I'm with shelter Holdings
we're the elbow or the L that was
mentioned here we are we own land across
the street from Swedish obviously and
across the street from the Regency grand
red shopping center we're also the
owners of this COIs Terrace just down
the street a nice apartment community we
own and are developing a variety of
mixed-use market-rate mixed income
communities throughout the Pacific
Northwest and
sorry yeah so we we are committed to the
vision and guiding principles of
Issaquah Highlands from our perspective
and we've been investing in this coffer
over 30 years the development greement
has worked great it's been a wonderful
tool to facilitate a lot investment
predictability certainty I work in a lot
of cities up and down the west coast I
can't think of a development agreement
that I worked in where people have
continued to participate in the project
for over 20 years so the development
agreement first cost really a remarkable
document for our part we're focused on
delivering the mix of commercial and
retail uses that were contemplated in
the development agreement I can also say
that when we talk to employers when we
talk to the type of retail that we hear
from the community they these business
owners recognize the value of the
development agreement it provides a good
deal of certainty for them when we step
out of the development agreement
framework and we start thinking about
new zoning we think it's worthwhile to
share with you some of the feedback and
the work that we've been doing as many
of you know some of you have attended
some of our focus groups we've had a
series of three neighborhood meetings
and six focus groups we've commissioned
a market study with a number of market
professionals on the office residential
medical office retail and residential
markets up in iske Highlands and we
shared some of those results with the
community
these studies when we got them indicated
that there was a very nice complimentary
market for retail next to the Regency
shopping center that could support that
380,000 square feet and keep it vibrant
there was a nice nice strong market a
medical office that can can support the
Swedish and Reliance campus and kind of
work with some of the visions for the
innovative partnership zone for sports
medicine that the city is trying to
bring so not a nice piece there when we
look at housing you can imagine that's
pretty obvious this is a real strong
market for housing right now is a
tremendous demand and I think so some a
lot of good moments but for the office
market that's much more limited there's
not as much strong demand for office and
Keith can share his experience and
trying to bring office users to Issaquah
as the economic development but that
part of the market analysis is the
weakest part when we talk to the medical
office users and the employer players
and we talk about bringing that sports
medicine component to esquel Highlands
they very much value the Swedish but
what we do hear from them is that they
ask us questions like where are our
employees going to live and so when you
think about attracting these types of
users and creating that medical office
sports medical campus we think it's
worthwhile for you when we step out of
the development agreement to consider
some complimentary housing that can
support these commercial uses of that
medical campus I think it can be a very
powerful tool to help bring those uses
here similarly when we think about
retail and when we ask the residents
about what kind of retail they wanted up
in this kalila pnes we heard a lot about
uses that were very vibrant that were
lifestyle components really nice
restaurants places to sip wine at night
to spend a couple hours out watch the
sunset we heard about nice trophy
grocery stores that would be a nice
complementary a different choice than
Safeway
but still wouldn't undermine Safeway we
heard about health clubs a wide variety
of nice retail that is more of an
entertainment more of a specialty when
we went out to those types of tenants
and we talked to them what they said was
is Squa house is great but for them what
helps them is a 24-hour presence when
when you think about a business owner
opening a restaurant it's nice to have a
captive audience above so to the extent
that we can fold a little bit of
commingled housing to support them it'll
help us attract the type of retail that
the neighborhood that the community
wants and this little more destination
lasting when when we talk to the
residents I can say they love it up
there they absolutely love being there
but I did hear and a number of us did in
the focus groups a concern that they may
not be able to stay that as we all get
older the opportunity to stay in the
community is a concern there aren't a
lot of senior housing options nearby and
a lot of the residents wanted the
opportunity to stay close by to be able
to walk across the street to the
hospital so I think you know and through
this process I think there is some value
to thinking about allowing that type of
use within this process of rethinking
when we step out of a development
agreement into a new zoning you know I
think as a vertical mixed-use component
a little bit of housing to support these
uses can be a very powerful tool to be
clear we're focused on delivering the
commercial and retail we intend to own
it we tend to hold it long term and I
think it'll be lovely but when we start
thinking about a new framework that's a
consideration that you'd ask that you
consider in terms
adding that allowed use we're looking
forward to working with all of you happy
to answer questions it looks to be a an
interesting and a fairly complex process
and happy to answer questions and
continue to wake esquel Holland's great
thanks to the droves
yeah I next is Ken Bellamy good evening
my name is Ken Bellamy
7900 southeast 28th bursar island
I represent Dallas Corporate Center and
which is the nine acre parcel at the
entrance to tell us that you saw
referred to before right at the
intersection of Calais Drive and SR 900
just a bit of background on that we have
an approved site development permit on
that property and have had for the last
10 years we have worked with Keith and a
number of other real estate brokerage
firms trying to find a user to occupy
that space and we've been unsuccessful
and so with the termination of the
development agreement we thought we'd
like the opportunity to discuss some
change of use for something that's more
consistent with the with the community
that's there the residential community
and also more something that has a
shorter development time frame to it
that's really all I had tonight if
there's any other questions happy to
answer them but like to discuss it with
you in more detail as you work through
this process not typically I'll defer to
Lucy own rules but typically we haven't
engaged in public comment in a
bi-directional conversation so no thank
you thank you mr. Bellamy so that's all
that have signed up does anybody else
want to
speak this evening
me and my squeaky pen or backhoe the
squeaky pen is back so that means public
comment is now closed I took that is
enough correct yes thank you need
something to fiddle with so yes I had a
lot of people walk in my office and
today I should have gotten one for you
so that that's the end of our
presentation on this piece if you have
questions you want to ask me the
applicants will hear it and then we can
talk with them separately in terms of
how we may want to proceed this was
intended mostly just to be a primer for
you guys right to kind of point you in
the direction that we've been pointed at
for a bit of time now I think you know
the next meeting we're definitely going
to jump into the fray and I'm not sure
how that's going to go down
I'm sure Lucy has a plan so so I'll just
I mean there were some questions about
how the meetings might be structured I
mean typically we would send you the
code you would read the code we think
it's going to be about 30 pages which
sounds like a lot but really isn't that
much and that we would have a meeting to
talk through it we make edits and then
we would finalize it for the next
meeting when we're asking for you to
make a recommendation but one of the
things that I'm hearing that I'm not
sure that we would review with you next
time but we would certainly answer
questions is it sounds like we're going
to be putting together a tool to help
you understand a little better what the
original sources are and why we making
the recommendations that we are in terms
of where things go to so that's
something I'll be busy with this weekend
and and so we're certainly available to
answer questions next time based on that
and one thing I just want to share if
you have questions while you're
reviewing it
you're getting your questions ahead of
time we're great we chose to answer a
lot of your questions down or whether
we've answered all of them Lindsey but
it's really helpful if you have
questions along the way to send them to
us we may not choose to answer them
ahead of time but it means we're much
better prepared to have a discussion I'm
always impressed with how much you think
we know that we can come in and answer
immediately but getting a little
heads-up is helpful in terms of us
having a more thoughtful conversation so
Lizzie I also in addition to talking
about how how you came about the idea of
these particular code changes the
applicants in these cases when they're
looking at potential changes how does
that play into whatever we approve or
recommend or anything like that or is it
just kind of a side idea so that's
that's a really good question so I think
the way we're thinking that this is
going to come to you is in the same way
that there is a zoning map for the city
and then that zoning map leads to a
piece of code that says it can be three
stories and have 10-foot setbacks there
will be a map that has those overlays so
there'll be a color and that color
single-family and you know that means
one house and this color means its
retail only or this color means its
mixed-use non residential or mixed-use
residential so there will be some kind
of map that we will have as well as code
that should tell you something about how
those uses can be developed on that land
and I'm sure they'll be looking at it as
closely as you guys are so if the
typical way to do a rezone is to go
through the city council process
if we're read coloring those areas
aren't we basically rezoning it without
it going to City Council oh no it goes
to City Council so your recommendation
will go to City Council yes but it will
be a recommendation of this is how the
development agreement should be modified
so that we can bring it into the city
right oh and then we're also changing
these properties I I think any can agree
with Lindsey I think from a process
standpoint we're really helpful to
bifurcate those and I think it might be
really helpful to go through this
collapsing the development agreement
into more generic city codes process
complete that and then separately look
at potentially rezoning some of the
undeveloped parcels into something so
it's very can we can we break goodnesses
yes
so absolutely so so the the ending of
the development agreement and the code
and all that can be one recommendation
and then these two gentlemen and their
asks could ultimately be recommendation
two and or three depending on what you
guys want to do with that but they're
not sequential I think that over there
asking for all we're doing them
concurrently and then I think I think it
would make I think to make the
conversation will be much clearer
especially for people other than the
Commission and the gentleman with the
request I think I think we'll be clear
for the average person to separate that
why do you guys want to do that
concurrently rather than to do there's
no zoning in the interim so as soon as
we end the development agreement those
parcels have no zoning what I know but I
think couldn't we do it with the
existing zones and then take up the idea
of rezoning yes the existing zone is
urban village see a development
agreement here he goes away so they can
always ask for a rezone there they're
choosing they would like to do it with
this process I mean you're from now air
can come in and make a application for
the zone on his property to change from
mix use non-residential to just mix you
with
residential right I mean so he can do
that anytime he can do that every year
for the next 20 years if he wants to so
so that can always happen I think what
they've asked for because this process
is moving now and because we have to
pick a zone for their property they
would like to influence that decision
and get us to pick something other than
what what they currently own which right
now as we going back to step one what we
tried to do was say we're bringing
forward a construct that will generally
keep the villages the way they are which
would mean the existing zoning on all
the properties what they would like to
ask for is two exceptions one for talus
and one for the Highlands and that's
part of the conversation that we get to
have and you guys could say no we want
to keep that separately you guys do that
a year from now or whenever or we could
have that conversation I would say if
you want to at least allow that to play
out maybe in the next meeting to see
what it feels like and maybe what we can
do on the agenda and this is a
suggestion for the chair sitting in vice
chair are you the chair no yeah so he is
sitting in a survive as year so what we
can what we could do is actually have
three agenda items so we could talk
about you know das and then we could
talk about talus commercial and then we
could talk about Highlands commercial
retail and so there's a specific place
in the agenda for those conversations
and that may be more productive and
allow the Commission's to get to a
cleaner and I think it would be
important for public input on those
because those are obviously very big
spaces that have a big effect on a lot
of residents and it would be easier to
communicate to the residents that where
they would have a public hearing or
input additionally and I just forgot it
was okay hey you were on a roll it was
outcome we're doing really good I think
that was I think that's a great
suggestion Lindsay yeah and all I go
that for Lindsay I'm I don't want to
punt on the second half the decision I
just want to make sure that they're that
they're clear discussions yeah yeah we
can maybe we maybe tackle it in a single
mission meeting I just want those to be
independent right and I think that is in
terms of agenda items I think that's
great because what that means is that we
can do sort of public comment with each
piece yeah and focus comments that if
there's more comments on one piece than
another then we'll be able to hear
specifically on those pieces so I think
that's great and I want to just be clear
you know we sit in my little office and
make up these optimistic schedules where
you guys like talk about things once and
then approve it so if you need more than
this if you need more than three touches
on this I don't think anybody turns into
a pumpkin so so just because Lucy said
we're going to have three meetings and
then you're going to be done if we need
an extra meeting or two we can we can
fit that into the schedule so we split
up a presenter okay I remember my
question was when if separate from this
somebody wanted to go through a rezone
of an undeveloped land plot they make an
application does that go through any
Commission before it goes which
Commission does that go to that goes to
I believe pose a PPC okay so you know as
a tangent you know as just to just be
transparent you know the city
administration's going to need to figure
out what we do with you VDC right now
they're meeting once in a blue moon as
we get rid of keep getting rid of the
villages what's left is rallies and so
you know I think Swedish in like sign I
know so yeah since there's no action on
either with those they tend to forget
about them sorry so we'll have to figure
out if we if we ultimately collapse you
VDC into DC or do something like that I
don't know what the answer is but we
need to figure out what to do with with
you guys because you may not ever be
meeting yeah I think when we've
discussed these three different
with helpful to understand the pros and
cons for the public benefit in the
frozen column developer the landowner
the developers gone yet to land oh yeah
yeah I want to see the whole story I
just you don't care about just what I
think I'm kidding okay so that's it on
this topic okay so one just brief update
again for transparency last year the
Commission know why is showing that
there we go
last year the Commission did an
adjustment to the site development
permit for Central Park to accommodate
changes to the pad the play area the
parking lot this the top image here is a
snippet from that at the time that we
presented to you we mentioned that this
was a phased implementation and there
was a suggestion and discussion around
parking and how that might be
accommodated with the first days so I
just wanted to give the Commission an
update on how phase 1 was approved so
this area down here is obviously this
area here they are moving forward with
the changes to the pad and the lighting
and I'm sorry Lucy where's where Central
Park I'm sorry
this is urban village Development
Commission so I'm assuming you're in the
no apologies is qilin okay and right
next to Grand Ridge Elementary if you
know where that is just east of there
okay thank you thank you
and actually in this image North is not
up so to make it even harder
North is on this side so this is East
and West but the two images are oriented
the same I did I did get that much right
so the full build-out plan is what's
shown on the top what's shown on the
bottom they are leaving the existing
parking lot as is but reusing as a
commission and public suggested and
discussed there is a paved area that was
right here on the original plan this
paved area is being developed as
additional parking being striped so that
to try and make phase one work and look
at ways to be economical and yet achieve
the goal to face one so that was just an
update on how that played out and I
believe it's under construction now okay
and that really is the end so that's
that's the end and we have a confirm
time end date or date ends on to the
next so the next meeting is the 15th
which would be the next typical you VDC
meeting um and we'll look at weather
6:30 or 7:00 works better with other
events that are happening I don't know
if you guys have feedback on that and
packet will be out next week anything
else from the either Commission thank
you all in we adjourn
you
you